


In it Together

by Measured_Words



Category: Diablotin
Genre: Friendship, Gangsters, Gen, Loyalty, Police, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 06:37:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3478121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured_Words/pseuds/Measured_Words
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Picked up by the cops for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Denise is about to find out whether or not she can rely on her new boss...</p>
            </blockquote>





	In it Together

In it together

The Huntsmen wasn't a pub that Denise had been to before, but she hadn't been to many places in Pearl. They hadn't picked it, and she was pretty sure that Ander wouldn’t have picked it if it were up to him. And that was before the raid.

Everyone had looked up when the first guardsman had walked in through the door – it was clearly some kind of duty call. They hadn't had much time to react before he was joined by a full squad, all armed and right sharp looking. They'd been halfway to the side exit at that point, along with a fair number of other patrons. Denise figured probably half the people in the place were there for some kind of business or other, and the guards were moving fast to secure the exits. Hopefully there weren't more waiting outside. She shifted a bit, blocking the route between the tables and holding her ground against the people trying to elbow their way past her. Ralf slipped up beside her, flashing a knife, and doing that thing that made his face go all scary. She turned her head to look just as Ander made it outside. He looked back too, his expression grim, but he sort of flicked his hand her way as he slipped out.

"Just hang tight," she heard his voice in her ear a moment later, close as if he was whispering in her ear, "it'll be alright."

She wondered if Ralf heard it too, because he smiled just a little. He didn't seem too worried, either, when one of the cops called out for them to stand aside, or even when she brought out a pair of handcuffs, clapping on cuff on each of them so they were stuck together. It looked like they were trying to arrest half the pub, and lots of folk had wound up cuffed to their neighbors the same way. Once the cop had sat them back down at one of the tables and moved on, Denise looked to Ralf.

"What're they gonna do? Are we bein' arrested?"

Ralf sighed. "Just relax, a'right? They're probably lookin' for drugs."

"Okay." They didn't have any drugs, so that wouldn't be a problem. She was relieved for a moment. "But what about, like, weapons?" She had her gun on her, and she knew Ralf had his knives, at least, because he always did. Probably he carried a piece too. It wasn’t technically illegal, but she knew that didn’t always matter if the guards didn’t like the look of you to start with. If they figured you were up to something, they could just keep you until they decided what it was.

"Ander said it'd be alright. It'll be alright."

Denise hadn't been working for Ander very long. He seemed pretty solid, and he'd said he'd look out for her, but she wasn't really sure what that meant. Ralf, though, had been in the war with him, and didn't seem worried at all.

"Okay."

The guardswoman was coming back their way, and Ralf sat up a little. "Don't tell 'em nothin'," he whispered, as if Denise needed telling.

"You two." She pointed, then sat herself down on the opposite bench. "What were you doing here?" 

She waited until it was clear neither of them were going to answer, then shook her head. "I suppose you've got nothing to say about why you were blocking the exit for everyone else then, either. Well, we'll see how you feel after you cool your heels down in the guardhouse for the night."

Denise's eyes went wide, but that just made the cop lady smile smugly as she stood back up, gesturing to one of the other guards.

They were among the first people loaded into the wagon waiting out front, and the cop who loaded them in cuffed Ralf’s other hand to a long metal bar that ran the length of the wagon. Probably so they couldn’t just hop out in the general chaos. It meant a lot of time sitting around and thinking. Denise's aunt Hettie had done a bit of time in the Imperial prison – working for the Emperor, she called it. She didn't talk about it too much, but Denise knew it had been really rough, and that Hettie would do just about anything to keep from going back. Even though she hadn't really done anything wrong, Denise couldn't help being scared. Her friend Argent had gotten pinched, even though he hadn't done anything wrong either, and she'd never seen him since. 

Finally, it seemed like the guard had everything – and everyone – rounded up. There were about a dozen people crammed into the wagon, plus some packages that they cops had brought out and piled up at the back. They closed up the tailgate with one of their own inside to keep an eye on things. Another hopped up into the driver’s seat, and the wagon lurched forward. Some people were muttering quietly to themselves, but the mood was pretty subdued. Ralf had barely said a word since he’d been loaded up, just glaring at everything and everyone. Denise found him hard to read, but he looked pretty tense despite what he’d said before. Ander was still nowhere to be seen.

“Ralf?” Denise asked once the Huntsmen disappeared from view around the corner, “what’s gonna happen now?”

He turned his glare on her for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. “Look, kid.” He kept his voice low. “I don’t know how things are gonna go down here – but I been in worse places. They got nothin’ on us, and besides, Ander’s got our backs.”

“Yeah,” she said a little carefully, because Ralf could get really touchy about some things, “but like… what’s he gonna do?”

“You either trust him, or you don’t.”

Denise flinched away, slinking back against the bench. “I didn’t mean nothin’...” Ralf didn’t know what was going to happen, but he and Ander were real close. Of course Ander would take care of him. But she was just some girl he’d hired off the streets – basically no one.

They rode the rest of the way to the guard house in silence. There was grumbling from some of the other people on the wagon, but Ralf’s sour looks kept them mostly directed elsewhere. Denise tried to look tough too, but for once she didn’t feel it. She tried being mad instead of scared, but it just wasn’t sticking. 

When they did pull up there was a familiar face waiting for them: Ander, leaning against the wall, having a smoke and chatting with one of the uniforms there. Ralf relaxed as soon as he saw him, and flashed Denise a quick smile. She nodded back. ‘Told you so’ was pretty easy to figure out, even from Ralf, but she wasn't sure they were off the hook just yet.

The copper Ander'd been chatting with jumped up to the tailgate as the wagon rolled to a stop, and traded some quick words with the other guard there. Then he was wading his way through the rest of the crowd, pulling out his keys, and unlocking their cuffs – just the two of them. Denise was rubbing the red ring around her wrist when the guard lady who'd nabbed them realized what was happening, whirling towards the other copper with an angry look on her face.

"Time to go," Ralf said, nudging her before hopping casually over the side of the wagon to where Ander was just flicking away the butt of his cigarette. Denise followed suit, but despite the argument that was breaking out between the guards, Ander didn’t seem to be in any hurry to book it out of there.

"What happened?" She looked back toward the wagon in bewildered relief. Some of the other prisoners were joining in the yelling now. "How'd you do that?"

Ander grinned, slinging an arm around each of them. "You just gotta know the right folks, and how to talk to 'em." He gave her shoulder a squeeze. "What – you weren't worried, were ya, Dee?"

She shook her head, with a quick glance at Ralf. "Next time, I'll know better."


End file.
